Day: March 1, 2007

When the cat is away…

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
SYDNEY–Seven years after exterminators in June 2000 killed
the last feral cats on Macquarie Island, an Australian possession
within the Antarctic Circle, the island’s feral rabbit population
has soared from about 10,000 when the cat-killing began in the
mid-1980s to an estimated 100,000. “Rabbits are destroying Macquarie
Island’s fragile vegetation, causing erosion and exposure, which
threatens its seabirds,” University of Tasmania geographer Jenny
Scott warned in a report commissioned by Birds Australia.
The Australian federal government and state government of
Tasmania are now disputing over which is to pay the $15 million
(Australian) estimated cost of killing all the rabbits. “The last
supply boat of this season leaves Hobart in early April, so the two
sides need to come to a cost-sharing arrangement and get their people
and equipment on that boat,” World Wildlife Fund representative
Julie Kirkwood told Nick Squires of the South China Morning Post.
The plan to kill the rabbits is also supported by the
Australian Green Party.

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EU rules for moles

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
BRUSSELS–The European Commission in February 2007 upheld a
ruling by the European Union Health & Safety Executive that
strychnine may no longer be used to kill moles. The verdict means
all burrowing mammals should now be safer from poisoning, either as
targeted or accidental victims.
“Last September a new EU law regulated a wide range of
poisons, including strychnine, to ensure they were safe and had no
harmful effect on the environment,” explained Charles Clover of the
Daily Telegraph. “Manufacturers failed to offer evidence that proved
strychnine does not harm the environment, so the British government
appealed to the EU on behalf of the 3,000 licensed users of the
poison who kill moles on grassland or golf courses. ”
The appeal was denied.

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Battery cages are going out, too

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
WASHINGTON D.C.–Humane Society of the U.S. factory farming
campaign director Paul Shapiro is struggling lately to find new ways
of wording announcements that major buyers are, at HSUS request,
giving up using eggs from battery-caged hens.
The Burgerville restaurant chain, based in Vancouver,
Washington, announced it would make the switch on January 17, 2007.
Finagle A Bagel, of Newton, Massa-chusetts, made the switch on
January 29. The State University of New York at New Paltz dining
halls followed on February 13.

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Film to help Turkish street dogs

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
ISTANBUL–“It is with pleasure that we launch the trailer of
Ghosts of the City, a documentary explaining the situation of stray
dogs in Turkey,” e-mailed Spanish activist and film maker Ivan
Jiminez to ANIMAL PEOPLE on Valentine’s Day 2007.
Ghosts of the City, Jiminez said, explains “the necessity
to implement sterilization of both stray animals and house pets, and
elaborates on issues such as the status of the dog in the Qu’ran and
responsible pet care.” Jiminez is involved in
efforts to pressure the city of Istanbul into properly fulfilling a
national mandate adopted by the Turkish government in 2004 to replace
killing dogs with an Animal Birth Control program similar to the one
underway in India since 1997. (See page one.)

Nylon twine ensnares Montana ospreys, too

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
MISSOULA–Nylon baling twine similar to the kite strings that
wreak havoc among the birds of India and Pakistan also kills ospreys
in Montana, say Ken Wolff of the Grounded Eagle Found-ation, in
Condon, and Rob Domenech, executive director of the Raptor View
Research Institute, in Missoula.
Nylon baling twine isn’t coated with crushed glass, and the
ospreys are not flying into it by accident, but the
non-bio-degradable twine is none-theless deadly, Wolff and Domenech
in February 2007 told Perry Backus of the Missoulian.
“Ospreys seem to go out of their way to pick it up for their
nests,” Dom-enech observed. “It’s so strong that once they get
tangled up in it, they’re doomed.”

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People & positions

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
The San Francisco SPCA on February 7, 2007 named Jan
McHugh-Smith to become only the eighth president of the SF/SPCA since
1868, but the third since 1998, when Richard Avanzino crossed San
Francisco Bay to head Maddie’s Fund, in Alameda. A 23-year veteran
of humane work, McHugh-Smith had headed the Humane Society of
Boulder Valley in Boulder, Colorado, since 1995.

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Appeals Court upholds Texas horse slaughter ban

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
NEW ORLEANS–The 5th U.S. Circuuit Court of Appeals on
January 20, 2007 ruled that Dallas Crown Inc. of Kaufman, Texas,
and Beltex Corp., of Fort Worth, have killed horses for human
consumption in violation of a 1949 state law. The ruling in effect
reinstated the law, but halted horse slaughter at the two facilities
for only two weeks.
Holding about 100 horses who were already on the premises or
en route when the court ruled, Dallas Crown refused an offer from
the Humane Society of the U.S. to take them to a sanctuary, and
killed them on February 5, said HSUS media contact Polly Shannon.
“A trailer from Cosco Container Lines Americas, Inc. was seen parked
outside the plant,” Shannon said, but what was actually done with
the horses’ meat was unknown.

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Doc rapped for dog use in sales demo

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
CLEVELAND–The Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute,
a national leader in researching brain aneurisms, on January 19,
2007 disclosed that it has barred from research for two years a
neurosurgeon who used a dog in a January 10 sales training
demonstration.
The neurosurgeon was suspended at recommendation of the
Cleveland Clinic’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, wrote
Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Sarah Treffinger. The committee
reported the incident to the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection
Service as a possible Animal Welfare Act violation on January 11.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Associated Press disclosed the
use of the dog and the clinic response later the same day.

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Vealer drops crating

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
HARLEYSVILLE, Pa.–Wayne Marcho, founder of the 36-year-old
Marcho Farms integrated veal production empire, on January 29, 2007
announced that his company has already moved thousands of calves from
veal crating to loose housing, and will shift entirely to loose
housing within the next few years. Marcho is believed to supply 15%
to 20% of the U.S. veal market.
“Smithfield and Marcho Farms were both strong proponents of
keeping animals in narrow crates,” said Farm Sanctuary president
Gene Bauston. “Their back flip begs the question: what else are
pigs, calves and other farm animals rightfully entitled to?

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